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EL Records Premier League Cup Tie.

MATCH REPORT

Chertsey Town progressed through to the last sixteen of the Combined Counties Premier League Cup at the expense of host side Chessington & Hook United by the narrowest of margins. Chalky Lane has never been a happy hunting ground for the Curfews, having lost on all three previous visits. Although going through the next round of two knock out competitions inside three days, Chertsey fans might well be looking out for Beta Blocker heart tablets as well as biting their finger nails down to the quick for the next rounds.

As occurred three days previous, Chertsey looked the more composed side but were not able to convert that strength into goals, with the opposition showing an initial edge with their incisiveness. This was evident right from the start when they had two good opportunities to take a very early lead but missed both at close range. Let off the hook, Chertsey took ten minutes or so to start to build in attack.

This was done in the usual meticulous fashion which allowed the home side to form up in defence. It needed good organisation and concentration in defence to keep Chertsey at bay and the Chessington machine had just that, so not allowing a decent shot at goal for the entire first half. Chertsey won plenty of corner kicks but the only openings created came when Anthony Vine got underneath a 15 yard strike and John Pomroy fired right across the Chessington goalmouth at an angle.

He may not have been quite on the money with goal attempts, but Vine worked furiously in the midfield throughout the whole encounter, but he was not alone. It was difficult to pick out all the real winners in the Chertsey side but Luke Muldowney was again very solid, as was Wayne Noad, centrally further back in defence. The departure of Simon Langley and John Hamsher from the squad consequently was not significant.

For their first starts of the season, both Musa Ladan in attack and Paul Bartholomew at the back made solid starts but a lack of match fitness pushed them to the limit in a physically demanding tie that went into extra time. They were not alone for both Marcus Moody and Anthony Vine looked to be operating on willpower alone in the latter stages in what, for them, was approaching two hours of intense football within a period of just 42 hours.

For fleeting moments in the second half, it looked that a second dose of extra time might be avoided. John Pomroy unleashed a powerful shot from outside the Chessington penalty area soon after the break but the swerving ball veered three inches too far to the right and the ball struck the upright in an encouraging start to the second half. Later, Paul Brooker curled in a low shot that goalkeeper Mark Daniels only just got down to and palm away for a corner.

A longer period of hope was engineered on 65 minutes when one of a string of corners won by Chertsey was delivered by Muldowney into the goalmouth where Wayne Noad connected to send the ball, low, into the net for the second successive match but happily for him, in the opponents goal on this occasion!

Having battled for over an hour in creating a very hard fought lead, it took just two minutes for all that effort to be undone. A lack of concentration, with the ball pinging about the Chertsey penalty area, opened up a gap close in for Mo Mann to dart in and put the ball away for a not undeserved equaliser. With no re or yellow cards being flourished by a more than competent referee, both sides looked to want to play pure football and both styles had their merits.

New signing Paul Smith in goal was not put under severe strain but he was given enough traffic to show off his confidence and ability in the last line of defence. Apart from the goal, he was only beaten once again in open play when another stab at goal looked ominous but was cleared off the line in classic defending position and execution.

It was strange that only two goals were scored during the evening, and so close together. Extra time physically tested both sides but although Lee O'Leary saw a reasonably likely shot deflected and another from Muldowney that skewed wide, the scored remained level for a penalty shoot out to be activated.

Chertsey went first with Pomroy being successful. Chessington's James Crowe put his side back on terms but then Brooker hit the post allowing Chessington to go ahead after two shots apiece. Kevin Cooper's strike was matched by his counterpart, followed by Muldowney firing in. The fourth Chessington shot was put wide to re-create parity so that O'Leary could then put Chertsey ahead with the fifth strike and fourth goal. The next Chessington effort was then saved by Smith to seal his debut and further Chertsey Town's adventure in the E.L. Records Cup despite running, by then, on an empty tank of fuel.